This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 from an application for A WIRELESS KEY INPUT PROCESSING APPARATUS OF DISPLAY APPARATUS USING USB earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on the 23rd of February 1998 and there duly assigned Serial No. 5634/1998.
1. Field of the Invention
If The present invention relates, in general, to a wireless key input processing apparatus for a display apparatus using a universal serial bus(hereinafter, a xe2x80x9cUSBxe2x80x9d) and, more particularly, to a wireless key input processing apparatus for a display apparatus using a USB in which a key signal from a wireless key board or wireless mouse is received by a display apparatus, and is transmitted to a personal computer (hereinafter, a xe2x80x9cPCxe2x80x9d) through a USB line, and in which a process signal is received from the PC to control peripheral equipment connected to the display apparatus.
2. Related Art
Recently, as a new type of computer environment (such as a multi-media computer or home network) and a new communication environment focusing on a computer have become more popular, peripheral equipment which are subject to be controlled by the computer have rapidly increased. Accordingly, in consideration of the fact that the current 1:1 manner of connecting a computer and peripheral equipment has reached a saturation condition in view of the prevalence or abundance of peripheral equipment, a new way of connecting a computer and peripheral equipment has been sought, led by business concerns relating to computers, telephones and monitors. As a result, a USB for transmitting middle and low-speed data, and an IEEE1394 for transmitting high speed data, have emerged as a new communication protocol for the computer.
As various peripheral equipment attached to a PC have increased with an increase in applied programs, the limited number of PC slots has been exceeded. Moreover, as the connectors for peripheral equipment of different shapes have become uniform, a new communication protocol based on the concept of hot plugging or hot plug-and-play is being supported by PC manufacturers and phone service companies in order to attain convenience in the user""s PC operation.
The USB is applied to the middle and low-speed equipment for which the data transmission speed is below 12 (Mbps), such as various modems, printers, joysticks, mouse devices, keyboards and scanners. The IEEE1394 is applied to high speed equipment for which the data transmission speed is around 100-400 (Mbps), such as a digital camera, video cassette tape recorder and optical disk reproducer.
Meanwhile, as computer environments vary, larger display apparatus (more than 20 inch or 30 inch) as well as the popular 14 or 15 inch display apparatus have tended to increase, and the key input devices (such as the keyboard and mouse) have become wireless for the user""s convenience.
As described in more detail below, when contemporary key input processing devices, such as the wireless keyboard or wireless mouse, are used to control peripheral equipment of a computer system, slow transmission speeds make it difficult to process substantial amounts of data in real time. This is especially true in the case of computer systems employing new types of multimedia, such as the home network. Thus, peripheral equipment are not easily operated or controlled, thereby adversely affecting reliability of the overall system.
An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless key input processing apparatus for a display apparatus using a USB which is capable of receiving a key signal from a wireless keyboard or wireless mouse operated by a user with the display apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wireless key input processing apparatus for a display apparatus using a USB in which a key signal from a wireless keyboard or wireless mouse received by the display apparatus operated by a user is transmitted to a PC through a USB line, and in which peripheral equipment connected to the display apparatus are controlled upon receipt of a process signal from the PC.
In order to attain the above object, there is provided a wireless key input processing apparatus for a display apparatus using a USB, including: a key input unit having an infrared transmitting unit for converting a key signal, inputted by a user through a wireless keyboard and/or a wireless mouse, to an infrared signal, and transmitting it wirelessly; a display unit for receiving the wireless infrared signal outputted from the infrared transmitting unit, converting it to USB information, and outputting the converted USB information through a USB line as upstream data; and a PC for identifying key input data corresponding to information on a keyboard and mouse as recorded on a read-only memory basic input/output system (ROM BIOS) upon receipt of the USB information from the display unit and, when an accurate signal is inputted, outputting an identifying signal reporting that fact and, at the same time, outputting a corresponding key input process signal to the display unit.
Additional advantages, objects and other features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.